LOS ANGELES -- Lakers coach Mike Brown is still sporting his trademark sharp suit and stylish glasses, but for the first time in a long time -- since May 18, to be exact -- he is wearing a wide smile when he addresses the media after a game.

The Lakers walloped the Detroit Pistons on Sunday night at Staples Center, 108-79, to win their first game of the season after three losses in the regular season and all eight in the preseason. After signing Steve Nash as a free agent and trading for Dwight Howard, this is not what Laker nation expected or was willing to tolerate -- never mind that Howard is recovering from back surgery and all the Lakers are learning the new Princeton offense after years of running the triangle under Phil Jackson.

How badly did Brown, the former Cavaliers coach, want to win this game? After the Pistons rallied briefly to cut the score to 88-64 early in the fourth quarter, he brought Howard and Kobe Bryant back into the game.

"That was more just helping Mike out ... so he wouldn't have an ulcer over there or a heart attack over there," Bryant said with a smile.

Brown will take it, though he insists the Lakers are not that bad off in spite of the fact that their last win came in Game 3 of the Western Conference semifinals against Oklahoma City on May 18.

"I like where we are," Brown said. "The one thing that was missing, obviously, was trying to get a win or two here or there. If we had a win or two before this day ... I'd be OK. I wouldn't be as 'desperate' for a win," he said, making little quote marks with his fingers when he said the word "desperate."

"Going 0-3, you have to win. That's the biggest priority more than anything else, more than trying to figure out a rotation or figure out this or that. That's why I threw those guys back into the game. But, again, this might sound crazy, I still like where we are."

He might be the only person in L.A. outside his house who would say that. The internet chatter was brutal, and anxious Lakers fans were calling for his head. Losing the first three games of the season is different here than it is in, say, Cleveland.

Jamison signed with the Lakers as a free agent last summer, and he can attest that the stress of the poor start never got to Brown.

"He never changed," Jamison said. "He came in after games and was positive. At practice he was upbeat. It got pretty quiet in this locker room, but he was never down.

"It hasn't been his fault we started 0-3, but that's the day and age that we live in. If things are going great, it's the players, but when they're not, they put it all on the coach. Mike has been up front with us from Day One telling us what he expects out of us on both ends of the floor. We just haven't done that."

Until Sunday. Brown was asked if he felt relief after the victory.

"Some people may," he said. "I don't. I've said this before. I believe in what we're doing on both sides of the ball. It's going to take some time. But I think we took a step forward. We took a step backwards in the last game to a certain degree. That's understandable.

"So some people may look at it as a relief. I look at is as a good win because we needed it but not a "whew" -- not one of those," he said, pretending to wipe the sweat from his forehead. "I'm just excited about the way we played the game and we won the game."

What exactly did the win do for the team?

"What it does more than anything else, especially winning the way we did, defending the way we did ... and then playing the way we did offensively ... it gives us a little belief," he said. "Every win we get gives us a little bit more belief on both ends of the floor. That's a good thing."

Given that it had been almost six months since the Lakers last victory, Brown was asked if he'd almost forgotten what it felt like.

"No," said Brown, who has won 314 games in his seven seasons as a coach, 272 of them in five years in Cleveland. "I feel like I and most of the guys in there have won a lot of ballgames in our careers.

"Don't get me wrong. I wanted to win. I wanted to win every regular-season game we played and a couple of the preseason games, but it just didn't happen. It didn't happen for a lot of reasons. But our guys stuck with it. I stayed the course. Our assistants stayed the course and I thought we got a very good win. We won the game tonight the right way. I don't care who our opponent was. I really felt we won the game the right way on both sides of the ball. That's what I feel really good about. I thought we took not just one step forward but a few steps forward. Now, knock on wood, there may be a time where we may get knocked on our behind and take a two or step backward. It's going to be tough but I'm going to stay the course. ... I think this can really be something special. I'm excited."

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